smith



(No Model.) B C SMIT TRACE BUCKLE. Y No. 385,146. Patented June 26,1888.

NV PETERSV PhohrLithogmphsr. Washington. DV C.

ATnNT OFFICElo BYRON O. SMITH, OF AUBURN, NEWv YORK.

TRACE-BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part oi' Letters Patent No. 385,146, dated June26, 1888.

Application tiled April 4, 1888.

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, BYRON C. SMITH, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State ol` New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improve` ments in Trace-Buckles; and ldo hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact`description of theinveution, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appel`- tai ns to make and use the same.

My invention relates to harnessbuckles, and more especially totrace-buckles; and it consists in providing the tiacebuckle for whichLetters Patent N o. 88,489 were granted to Erastus M. Kiuue March 30,1869, with projecting lips or tongues, wings, spurs, or horns vupon thebody ofthe buckle, which said lips or tongues arc bent to proj ectoverthe beveled or shouldered corners of the arms and trunnions ofthe bailwhich retains the tongueplate in place; and it further consists in theimproved construction and combination or arrangement of parts ofthebuckle, as will hereinafter be fully disclosed in the description,drawings, and claims.

The objects ofmyinventionareto providethe body ofthe abovevreferred-tobuckle with two lips or tongues, wings, spurs, or horns, which may bebent to project over the beveled or shouldered arms of the bail whichretains the tongue-plate, which said lips or tongues will retain saidbail in its bearings.

In the buckle as shown and described in the above-mentioned patent therehas been the serious drawback that the crank-arms of the bail whichretains the tongueplate were liable to drop out of their bearings,especially when the harness was not in use, thereby causing apossibleloss of the bail and of the ton gueplate, and this drawback Iavoid, and guard against the said loss by confining the said cranlrarrnsin their bearings by the said lips or tongues, which are bent over thebeveled or shouldered portions of the crank-arms.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and inwhich the same reference-numerals indicate the same or correspondingparts, Figure 1 represents a View of the buckle, showing it applied tothe hame-tug and trace; Fig. 2, a back or inside View of the buckle withthe hametug and Serial No. 269,583. (No model.)

trace in place; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section ot the buckle and thehaine-tug and trace; and Fig. 4i, a transverse section of the buckle,looking toward the arms ofthe bail and their bearings, the section beingtaken on line x :vof Fig. 2.

ln lhc drawings the numeral 1 indicates the body or frame ol' thebuckle, which may be provided with the side loops, 2; or the said loopsmay he dispensed with,`and the forward end of this body or frame of thebuckle may either be provided with a rigid and integral y The rear endof the hame-tug 9 is formed with a transverse eye, l0, and this said eyemay lit upon a sleeve or roller, 11, which fits and revolves upon thescrew-threaded bolt.

The bearings 12in the sides oi the main frame or body 1 of the buckleare similar to the bearings in the buckle described in theabove-referredto patent, and the crank-arms 13 of the bail 14, whichretains the tongue` -plate 15, are journaled in these bearings in thesaine manner as in the said patent; but the e1- bows or bends of thearms of this bail have their corners 16 beveled or shouldered, saidbeveled or shouldered elbows or corners being suitably rounded'tocorrespond to the peripheries ofthe trunnions 17 ofthe crank-arms.

The rear edge, 18, or" the transverse opening 19, through which the bailis inserted into its bearings, is formed at its corners with twoforwardly andlaterallyprojectinglips ortongues, wings, spurs, or horns,20, cast integral with the frame of the buckle, and having sufficientflexibility to admit of their being bent back for the insertion of thebail in its bearings and again be bent over the arms of said bail, or socast that the wings when pressed down to the arms ofthe bail will holdthe bail in thejour-A nals referred to.

When the parts of the buckle are put to- IOO gether, the bail isinserted through the open'- ing 19 in thebuckle-frame, and its trunnionsare placed in the bearings, the lips or tongues 20 having first beenbent out of the way for the insertion of the bail-arms, and when thetrunnions of the bail are in placein theirbearings the lips or tonguesare bent over the beveled or shouldered corners 16 of the arms, bearingagainst the latter and retaining the trunnions in place in the bearings.By having these lips or tongues securing the bail in place the said bailcannot be disengaged from the frame and lost, andthe tongue-plate cannotbe lost or disengaged withoutremoving the tracebillet from the buckle.

Referring to the action by which the bail is confined to thebuckle-frame, it will be seen that the arms 20 act in their capacity asabutments by bearing endwise against the bends or corners 16 of thebail-arms. For this purpose the relation of the abutting arms to theopen or recess bearings 12 12 is peculiar-that is to say, therecess-bearings are formedinline with the front edge of the body-plate1, butin a plane above the plate, so that the arms 20 project from theedge of the plate between the sides of the body and toward therecess-bean ings therein, so as to stand against the bent ends of thebail-trunnions and form end bearings thereto in a manner to lessen ornarrow the space of the opening 19 at these twopints, and therebyconfine the trunnions within the open bearings 12 without a clamping orbinding action. In this function ofthe arms 20 they confine thetrunnions within open spaces by forming abutments against the endvvisemovements of the trunnions and as inclined arms to prevent the trunnionsfrom moving out of their bearings 12 into the body-opening 19. Thisconstruction permits the arms 20 to be cast in the same plane wit-h thebody-plate 1, which is importantin giving a smooth casting.

Having thus fully described the construction and combination orarrangement of parts of my buckle and its advantages, what I claim asnew is- 1. In a buckle, the combination, with the buckle frame or bodyformed with the transverse opening 19 and with the bearings 12, andprovided with the lips or tongues 20, projecting forward and to thesides in the opening toward the inner ends of the bearings, of the bailhavingits trunnions rocking in the bearings and retained therein by thesaid lips, and -the tongue-plate retained by the bail, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a buckle, the combination, with the buckle frame or body formedwith the transverse opening 19 and with the bearings 12 in its sides,and provided at the rear edge of the said opening with the lips ortongues 20,which project forward and to tbe sides of said opening towardthe said bearings, of the bail having its trunnions rocking in the saidbearings and formed with beveled or shouldered corners at the inner endsof the trunnions, and having the said lips ork tongues bearing againstthe said beveled or shouldered corners and retaining the trunnions intheir bearings, and t-he tongue-plate retained by said bail,substantially as described.

3. The buckle-frame having the open side bearings, 12 12, and thebody-plate 1, formed with the arms 20 20 at the front corners of saidbody-plate opposite the said open bearings, in

combination with tbe bail having its trun nions confined by said armsabutted against them, and a separate tongue-plate, 15, substantially asdescribed, for the purpose speci tied.

4. The buckle-frame having the open side bearings, 12 12, and the arms20 20, project ing from the front edge -of the body-plate 1 in adirection toward said bearings and in a plane below the lat-ter, incombination with a bail having trunnions confined within the said openbearings,in the manner statedandshown. In testimony whereof I haveaffixed my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

BYRON (LSMITH. Witnesses:

HENRY T. KEELER, J. ALEXANDER, J r.

